The Rev. Adam Shoemaker Elected Bishop of Long Island
The Rev. Adam Shoemaker, who currently serves as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Charleston, was elected ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island on April 18 by nearly 300 clergy and lay delegates, meeting at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York.
He was elected on the fourth ballot as one of three candidates standing for the election. In the diocese’s announcement about the election, Father Adam said, “I am deeply humbled by the trust this convention has placed in me and accept the call to serve as your next diocesan bishop with hope and faith in what God will do among us. I look forward to laboring together across the Diocese of Long Island as one body in Christ, and I ask your prayers as we begin this new chapter together.”
Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley was following along with the election while she was in Ghana and rejoiced with the results. “We give thanks for the election of the Reverend Adam Shoemaker as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, even as we feel the deep loss of his presence among us,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “Adam has been an extraordinary gift to our diocese—as rector of St. Stephen’s, a wise and steady diocesan leader, and a trusted voice in the civic life of our community. We are equally grateful for the ministry of his wife, the Reverend Courtney Davis-Shoemaker, whose faithful leadership as priest-in-charge of St. Peter’s, Charleston has helped guide that congregation home in the years following the schism. Together, their ministries have borne lasting fruit in our common life. We send them and their family with joy, gratitude, and our prayers as they enter this new season of call and service.”
In his message to his congregation here in Charleston on Sunday, Fr. Adam said the following: “Today’s news, while affirming my call to serve my childhood Diocese of Long Island as their next bishop, is bittersweet as it means the conclusion of my nine-year ministry at St. Stephen’s. Over this season of ministry, we have shared a number of pivotal experiences together. From the growth of the parish and staff to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic to the celebration of St. Stephen’s bicentennial and a capital campaign. We have laughed together and cried together and lived life together as we have helped our diocese reconstitute the Episcopal Church in the Low Country of South Carolina. Through it all, you have loved and cared for my family and been a tremendous place for my children to spend formative years of their lives. My ministry at St. Stephen’s has been deeply gratifying for me and I will always carry this ‘house of prayer for ALL people’ in my heart.”
Please keep the Shoemaker family in your prayers, along with the congregations of St. Stephen’s and St. Peter’s, as they live through this transition. Pending the required consents, Fr. Adam will be ordained and consecrated bishop on September 19, 2026 at the Tilles Center in Greenvale, New York.